Part 2 of my mini series looking at how to build chord progressions on guitar using the diatonic scale. This part expands on the I IV V relationship, adding in the other chords from the scale.

Once you have this scale mastered, in all keys, that’s when the creativity really starts to flow, because rather than this scale limiting what you play, it merely becomes the foundation, a reference point.

I hope to expand on it over the next few months. You can follow my progress with this in the Guitar Songwriting section of fretjam.com.

I’ve uploaded a video to YouTube showing you one of the most important chord relationships in music. It’s known as I IV V (1 4 5) and can be used in any key when you learn how these relationships appear on the fretboard.

This is a great place to start when learning about using the diatonic chord scale in your songwriting. It should be see as an essential foundation element which you’ll later build on.

Just a quick post to show you a video I uploaded on the ‘Tube about finding interesting chords on your guitar. I’m a huge fan of open chords (chords that use fretted and unfretted/open strings) and I always use the below technique to find nice replacements for those standard barre/movable chords.